ZARDA PULAO/MEETHE CHAWAL/KESARIYA BHAAT

Happy Basant Panchami
Vasant or Basant Panchami is a festival that marks the beginning of preparations for the king of all seasons, Spring.

For many Hindus, Vasant Panchami is the festival dedicated to goddess Saraswati who is their goddess of knowledge, language, music and all arts. She symbolizes creative energy and power in all its forms.

There is a significance of wearing yellow, and eating yellow food on Basant Panchami as it is goddess Saraswati’s favorite color. So presenting to you here is my aunt Kalpana bhandari’s recipe, she is an amazing cook and I have learnt so many dishes from her.

And well, basant panchami is also my birthday according to hindu calendar, so a celebration to that and meethe chawal are a must!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup rice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp desi ghee
• Soaked saffron strands in 1 tbsp luke warm milk
• A pinch of yellow saffron food colour
• 1 tbsp sliced almonds
• 1 tbsp sliced cashews
• 1 tbsp raisins
• 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cloves

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Gently wash the rice and soak in water for 1 hour. Strain and keep aside.
2. Heat 4-5 cups water in a pan.add 2,3 drops of food colour .
3. When it comes to a boil, add the soaked rice.
4. Cook till the rice is done. Strain in a sieve and mix a tsp of ghee in the rice and keep aside.
5. Heat the  ghee in a pan.
6. Add almonds, cashew nuts, chironji and raisins and fry till golden brown. Add cardamom, black cardamom and cloves and fry for a few seconds.
7. Add sugar and some soaked saffron water and  Simmer the heat and add the rice and mix gently. Add cardamom powder . Cover and cook on low heat for 10-12 minutes.
8. Now cover and keep aside for 10 minutes and enjoy tasty and meethe chawal .

NOTES:

• The rice doesn’t cook once sugar is added to it. So make sure the rice is cooked properly before adding sugar to it. But also make sure to not overcook the rice. It will result into a mushy Zarda Pulao.
• You can also skip adding the yellow food color to Zarda and only stick to Saffron. In this case, soak the saffron over night in milk to get the bright yellow colour.
   

Disclaimer: I may receive a small commission from the following purchase links. The proceeds help in supporting Astha’s Kitchen so that I can continue creating delicious recipes for you .

Baby Brand Saffron, 5g https://amzn.to/2NeLiaW